this seemed to spit out all available links from within the category and subcats. How can I limit it to a number, like my original global above? Mybe I put your additional code in the wrong place, as I don't understand the syntax exactly. The global I created using mine above and what you supplied was:

sub {
my $tags = shift;
my $link_db = $DB->table('Links','CatLinks');
my $cat_id = $tags->{Random_CatID};
my $limit = $tags->{Random_Limit} || 3;
my (@output, $sth);
$link_db->select_options ('ORDER BY RAND()', "LIMIT $limit");
if ($cat_id) {
$sth = $link_db->select ( { CategoryID => $cat_id });
}
else {
$sth = $link_db->select;
}
while (my $hash = $sth->fetchrow_hashref) {
push @output, $hash;
}
my $cat_db = $DB->table('Category');
my $sth2 = $cat_db->select ( ['ID'],{ FatherID => $cat_id });
while (my ($child_id) = $sth2->fetchrow_array){
my $sth3 = $link_db->select ( { CategoryID => $child_id, isValidated => 'Yes' });
while (my $hash2 = $sth3->fetchrow_hashref) {
push @output, $hash2;

}
}
return { Random_Loop => \@output }
}